Chanelle Aponte Pearson

{{Infobox person

| name = Chanelle Aponte Pearson

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| birth_place = Bronx, New York, New York

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| nationality = American

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| occupation = Writer, producer director

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| notable_works = 195 Lewis

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Chanelle Aponte Pearson is an American writer, producer, and director. She is a member of the New Negress Film Society. She is best known as the director of 195 Lewis, a scripted web series about Black queer women living in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn. The series won the 2017 US Narrative Audience Award at the BlackStar Film Festival and received a Special Mention at 2017 Outfest.{{Cite web|url=https://www.intomore.com/culture/The-Director-Of-195-Lewis-Tells-Us-Why-Its-Paramount-We-Tell-Our-Own-Stories|title=The Director Of '195 Lewis' Tells Us Why It's 'Paramount We Tell Our Own Stories'|website=www.intomore.com|date=27 October 2017 |access-date=2019-07-19}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.curvemag.com/Cinema/Award-winning-Series-Premiere-195-Lewis-2114/|title=Award-winning Series Premiere: 195 Lewis|website=www.curvemag.com|language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}}

Career

Pearson began producing short films independently in the early aughts.{{Cite web |last=Mullins |first=Carrie V. |date=2017-02-16 |title=Chanelle Aponte Pearson on Filming Cinematic Web Series & Exploring Messiness on Screen |url=https://www.stareable.com/blog/chanelle-aponte-pearson-on-filming-cinematic-web-series-exploring-messiness-on-screen |access-date=2019-07-19 |website= |language=en}} Her first job on a feature film was as co-producer for Terence Nance's 2012 film An Oversimplification of Her Beauty.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tfiny.org/filmmakers/detail/chanelle_aponte_pearson|title=Chanelle Aponte Pearson|website=Tribeca Film Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}} Pearson is currently the COO of Nance's production company, MVMT.{{Cite web|url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/98303-five-questions-for-195-lewis-director-chanelle-aponte-pearson/|title=Five Questions for 195 Lewis Director Chanelle Aponte Pearson|last=Macaulay|first=Scott|website=Filmmaker Magazine|date=26 April 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-19}}

In 2015, Pearson won a grant from the Gotham Awards for her directorial debut, a web series called 195 Lewis.{{Cite web|url=https://shadowandact.com/tangerine-jonas-carpignano-chanelle-aponte-pearson-are-25th-gotham-awards-winners|title=Tangerine, Jonas Carpignano, Chanelle Aponte Pearson Are 25th Gotham Awards Winners|website=shadowandact.com|language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}} 195 Lewis is a scripted series that centers four Black queer women who live in Bed Stuy, and stars co-creator Rae Leone Allen, Trae Harris, D. Ajane Carlton, Sirita Wright, Roxie Johnson, and Taja Lindley.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/01/10-black-directors-to-watch-in-2016.html|title=10 Black Directors to Watch in 2016|website=pastemagazine.com|date=28 January 2016 |language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}} It debuted online on November 16, 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://www.colorlines.com/articles/black-queer-couple-candidly-explores-polyamory-195-lewis|title=A Black Queer Couple Candidly Explores Polyamory in '195 Lewis'|last=Rao|first=Sameer|date=2017-11-17|website=Colorlines|language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}} Latonya Pennington of Wear Your Voice magazine wrote in a review, "Whether in themselves or others, Black queer viewers will recognize the characters and love them. Through the efforts of the creators, director, and the cast, 195 Lewis tells a wonderful coming-of-age story of love, lust, and life in one of America’s blackest and queerest cities."{{Cite web|date=2017-11-14|title='195 Lewis' Is Black Lesbian Perfection|url=https://wearyourvoicemag.com/culture/195-lewis-black-lesbian-perfection|access-date=2019-07-19|website=Wear Your Voice|language=en-US|archive-date=2019-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190719031108/https://wearyourvoicemag.com/culture/195-lewis-black-lesbian-perfection|url-status=usurped}} It received a Special Mention at 2017 Outfest for "highlighting the contemporary life of queer black woman with flair, vibrancy and substance.”{{Cite web|last=Dry|first=Jude|date=2017-07-20|title=Chanelle Aponte Pearson's Dazzling Ode to Black Lesbian Love Is the Next Great Queer Project of 2017|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2017/07/chanelle-aponte-pearson-black-lesbian-lgbt-web-series-195-lewis-1201767703/|access-date=2019-07-19|website=IndieWire|language=en}}

Pearson is an executive producer for the 2018 HBO series Random Acts of Flyness.{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/random-acts-of-flyness-renewed-season-2-hbo-1202910149/|title='Random Acts of Flyness' Renewed for Season 2 at HBO|last=Otterson|first=Joe|date=2018-08-20|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}} She is a member of the New Negress Film Society, a collective of Black women filmmakers founded in 2013 to "create community and spaces for support, exhibition, and consciousness-raising".{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/sundance-sxsw-funders-film-collective-black-women-filmmakers-1201796240/|title=Why Sundance, SXSW, and Funders Are Falling in Love With This Tiny Collective of Black Women Filmmakers|last=Lapin|first=Andrew|date=2017-03-24|website=IndieWire|language=en|access-date=2019-07-19}}{{Cite web|url=https://lasentinel.net/the-new-negress-film-societys-inaugural-black-womens-film-conference-at-moma-ps1-a-sold-out-success.html|title=The New Negress Film Society's Inaugural Black Women's Film Conference at MOMA PS1 a SOLD OUT success!|date=2019-04-04|website=Los Angeles Sentinel|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-19}}

Personal life

Pearson identifies as queer. She was born and raised in the Bronx.

Accolades

2015 Gotham Awards’ Spotlight on Women Filmmakers Live The Dream grant
2018 Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series – Short Form, 195 Lewis{{Cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2018/11/the-winners-of-the-2018-gotham-awards.html|website=www.vulture.com|title=The Winners of the 2018 Gotham Awards|date=26 November 2018 |access-date=2019-07-19}}

Filmography

class="wikitable"
style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;" ! rowspan="2" style="width:33px;"\|Year ! rowspan="2" \|Title ! colspan="3" \|Credited as ! rowspan="2" \|Notes
width="65"\| Director ! width="65"\| Writer ! width="65"\| Producer
2012 \| An Oversimplification of Her Beauty \| {{no}} \| {{no}} \| {{yes}} \|
2017 \| 195 Lewis \| {{yes}} \| {{yes}} \| {{yes\|Executive}} \| Web series
2018 \| Random Acts of Flyness \| {{no}} \| {{no}} \| {{yes\|Executive}} \|

class="wikitable"

style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2" style="width:33px;"|Year

! rowspan="2" |Title

! colspan="3" |Credited as

! rowspan="2" |Notes

width="65"| Director

! width="65"| Writer

! width="65"| Producer

2012

| An Oversimplification of Her Beauty

| {{no}}